LiddUp Cooler employs LEDs to make cool parties even cooler

Picture the scene: a suitably awesome party is underway, and you go to grab a beer from a dark cooler, only to be met with several seconds of rummaging in cold ice. LiddUp Cooler offers to solve this admittedly minor problem by providing an LED-lit cooler ready for the next soirée.

LiddUp Cooler creators Jayson Sandberg and Taylor Gwiazdon ran through over 200 prototypes (and, presumably, a lot of beer), in the creation of a cooler design that can provide over 40 hours of continuous light – or up to two years of normal usage – from one removable 9-volt battery.

The lights work automatically, just like a refrigerator, and are waterproof and shockproof to an impressive degree. Durability tests included pummeling the LiddUp Cooler with bats, and throwing it out of a truck traveling at a speed of 80 mph (128 km/h). It's perhaps this durability and sheer simplicity of use which sets LiddUp Cooler apart from existing retrofit options like Coleman's Auto-On LED Cooler Light.

Besides partying, the LiddUp team also cites a potential humanitarian use for the cooler, and reckons the robust LED-lit container could be of use to relief agencies like FEMA and the Red Cross while they operate off-grid.

LiddUp Cooler is the subject of a Kickstarter campaign, with a minimum pledge of US$79 required to snag an early production run of the 50-quart (47 liter) cooler. This early production model will also feature handle, wheels and cup holders.